Guangzhou Shipyard, a small mainland tanker builder, reported a sevenfold increase in its first-half profit on soaring demand.
Profit for the six months to June reached 465 million yuan, from 65 million yuan a year earlier, as sales increased 55 per cent to 2.33 billion yuan, from 1.5 billion yuan.
Operating income from shipbuilding increased 55 per cent, and from steel structures, 66.4 per cent. The company delivered and completed seven vessels, began work on 10, and launched eight during the period.
The company also secured new shipbuilding orders with a total value of 3.49 billion yuan. At the end of June, the company had orders for 61 vessels to be delivered by 2011.
Seventy per cent of the shipbuilding contracts are for exports, mainly for clients from Denmark, Italy, Sweden and Malta.
Shipyards across the mainland, the world's second-biggest builder by order backlog, had record sales in the first half, boosted by demand domestically and abroad.
